Attorneys differ on whether
the arrest of Hatboro Police detective sergeant John Becker, who was assigned
to the Montgomery County Drug Task Force, could impact arrests he made.
Attorneys share opinions on
whether the arrest of former Hatboro Police officer John Becker could have
legal impacts.
A criminal defense attorney
contends that “every case” that ex-cop John Becker assisted with could
potentially be jeopardized and Montgomery County may have been “exposed to
liability."
Becker, 42, of Horsham, a
17-year Hatboro Police veteran, as well as a special county detective for the
Montgomery County Drug Task Force for more than a decade, is accused of
coercing informants to buy drugs for his own personal use. He has also been
charged with allegedly stealing cash, guns and drugs from the Hatboro Police
Department’s evidence locker.
The thefts alone - some of
which Becker admitted to in this criminal complaint - are enough to taint his
credibility, according to criminal defense attorney Peter Scuderi.
“Who knows what to believe?
Why would I believe what he’s saying?” Scuderi asked. “Anytime a cop is charged
with something like this those cases get thrown out routinely.”
Philadelphia’s 39th
District scandal is an example of how police corruption can impact arrests made
and cases tried. According to this article, 1,400 cases investigated by a half
dozen “dirty cops” were reviewed and, in some cases, overturned.
Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, a
spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, the agency which charged Becker,
said the office was “not aware of any cases that are impacted.”
Scuderi counters that since
Becker is alleged to have been involved in criminal activities, the charges he
is now facing may only be the tip of the iceberg.
“I would stick everybody in
front of a grand jury if I was a prosecutor,” said Scuderi, who in his more
than 30-year career has defended mobster-turned-informant John Veasey, and more
recently is the lawyer for Connor McNicholas, the Horsham man facing vehicular
homicide charges for the deaths of 2010 Hatboro-Horsham grads Eddie Coombs and
Robert Nagel.
Montgomery County First
Assistant District Attorney Kevin Steele did not say whether a grand jury
investigation was a possibility. He said a review of cases was conducted in May
and June 2011.
“We concluded that we would
not ever rely upon (Becker’s) testimony as a witness in a criminal case,”
Steele wrote in an email to Patch. “To that end, deputy District Attorneys
reviewed every matter in which Becker was involved to determine if either his
testimony would be needed in court or if his involvement was critical to the
outcome of the case. In any case where he would have been a critical witness,
we chose not to proceed. In cases where other evidence could prove the crime,
we were able to move forward.”
Steele said a review of
case records determined that Becker “had a very limited number of cases” in
recent years.
Steele did not offer
specifics with regard to Becker’s assignment to the county’s drug task force,
except to provide a signed copy of Becker’s Sept. 13, 2000 swearing in.
According to the county’s Web site, the task force, which was formed in 2000
with 165 police officers, has since grown to more than 450 officers.
The task force “serves as a
central source of drug intelligence,” for the county’s 53 municipalities,
according to the site. It provides “aggressive drug patrols designed to combat
open-air dealers and violent street crimes related to drug dealing,” the site
continues.
In the criminal complaint
filed by the Attorney General’s Office, Becker said he began taking Oxycontin
in 2003 to help with severe joint pain associated with an immune deficiency
disease he had been diagnosed with that same year. His alleged thefts of guns
from Hatboro Police Department’s evidence locker were said to have begun that
year as well.
Becker’s own admissions and
the charges he faces serve to “jeopardize every case,” Scuderi said.
“That’s why it should be so
important,” Scuderi said. “This is about a perversion of the law enforcement
system.”
Scuderi said would-be
criminals behind bars could legitimately fight their convictions as well, which
would pose problems for the county, as well as Hatboro.
“It also exposes the county
to liability,” Scuderi said. “If somebody is locked up unlawfully the county
could be sued.”